Characters / Brother Bear

The main and supporting characters from the duology of Disney's Brother Bear and Brother Bear 2.

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Kenai

^{Click here to see him as a human.}

A 16-year-old proto-Inuit hunter, Kenai is the protagonist of the two films. After his eldest brother is killed in a fatal bear attack, Kenai slays the beast for revenge only to be turned into an animal by his tribe's spirits, so he can learn a lesson in empathy.

Voiced by: Joaquin Phoenix [first film], Patrick Dempsey [second film]^{Other voice actors}Noriyuki Higashiyama [first film], Kazunari Tanaka [second film] (Japanese)

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• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: After they become friends, it's not uncommon for Kenai to noogie Koda.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Kenai is both the youngest and most reckless member of his (human) family.
• The Atoner: Kenai's guilt over killing Koda's mother is part of the reason why he chooses to remain a bear forever to stay with Koda. It's present in the sequel as well, though it's understated and clearly something neither brother likes to talk about. Rather realistically, some of Kenai's negative traits linger in the sequel, like surliness and the occasional bout of selfishness, but so do the lessons he learned from the original film. Whenever Kenai does screw up, he always does whatever he can to fix it, because he learned taking responsibility is an important part of being an adult.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After receiving character development, Kenai becomes this trope in the sequel. He's a friendly, good-natured, fun-loving bear, but he's also a former hunter who has killed before and he's not afraid to get violent to protect himself and his friends.
• Big Brother Instinct: Kenai develops this instinct towards Koda after the pair become good friends and traveling companions, and he starts to entertain the notion of being a sibling figure to the cub. By the end of the first film, Kenai has risked his life several times for Koda, and by the sequel he will physically attack you to protect him.
• Character Development: Over the course of two movies, Kenai grows from a stubborn, immature, shortsighted, and impulsive teen to a grumpy but affectionate, fun-loving, laidback, and responsible young man as well as a good big brother and friend. He lets go of his prejudice against bears, becomes more secure in his masculinity, and gains a greater appreciation of the balance of nature.
• Character Tic: Even as a bear, Kenai moodily sulks when he's frustrated. He also tends to rub the back of his neck when he's feeling anxious or uncertain.
• Chekhov's Skill: As a human, Kenai rode mammoths for fun. As a bear, this skill comes in handy whenever he and Koda want to cross long distances quickly (and without leaving tracks).
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Nita. They knew each other for a brief time when they were kids, went their separate ways for many years, and then fell in love with each other when they reunited as young adults.
• Cool Big Bro: Played with. Koda loves to tease Kenai for his weird and sometimes dorkish behavior, but it's clear the cub adores him.
• Cynicism Catalyst: After his brother dies and he's subsequently transformed into a bear, his personality becomes a lot more harsh, impatient, aloof and pessimistic than it was before. Kenai is (understandably) not happy about being turned into a creature he hates and he hasn't dealt with the death of his brother in a healthy way yet, so he spends a good chunk of the first movie sulking. He lightens up considerably after he starts to make peace with Sitka's passing and accepts Koda's friendship.
• Defends Against Their Own Kind: Inverted example. Kenai sometimes finds himself protecting his friends, particularly Koda, from other humans.
• Despair Event Horizon: After hitting his lowest point in "No Way Out", Kenai starts to succumb to despair and self-loathing, having finally realized how badly his terrible decisions have unwittingly hurt not only himself, but everyone he loves. During the first third of the film, he put his brother Sitka into a position where he'd need to sacrifice himself for him, planted the seeds of madness in Denahi's head, and unknowingly made Koda an orphan. And worst of all, now that he's changed, there's nothing he can do to reverse any of it - he simply has to live with it all. Before his last fight with Denahi, Kenai even confesses to Sitka that he doesn't know what to do anymore.
• Disappointed in You: Contrary to popular belief, the Great Spirits (or Sitka) aren't angry with Kenai for killing Koda's mother, they're simply disappointed by his actions and decide to set his path right again by turning him into a bear. It's even mentioned in the English translation of the song that plays over the transformation scene:
  For no reason why, your heart has turned away from me / And I will make you understand / Everything will become clear to you when you see things through another's eyes / Everything will become clear to you / Whatever's meant for you, you will find
• Easily Forgiven: It actually doesn't take Koda that long to forgive Kenai for being a bear killer. Although Kenai did come clean about it and had prior to that been protecting Koda. Not only that, but judging from Kenai's reaction during the scene where he's seen fighting the bear, this is more than likely the first (and only) time he's fought a bear. ^note Also, during the deleted scene where we actually hear the story, he genuinely sounds remorseful about what happened.
• Expressive Ears: It comes with the territory of being an anthropomorphic bear.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: The man versus beast fights in Brother Bear can get rather vicious and brutal, so Kenai has dished out this trope and been on the receiving end of it. Notable examples include killing the bear with his spear, being wrestled to the ground and nearly gutted with Denahi's dagger, and being shoved off a cliff to die by Atka, which results in Kenai visibly bleeding onscreen.
• Fantastic Racism: At the start of the film, Kenai seems to have a fear of bears that grows into outright prejudice after his brother is killed by one. Koda notices this trait and calls him out on it. Growing out of it is a highly important facet of Kenai's Character Development.
• Fatal Flaw: Koda bluntly states that "You can't tell Kenai nothing" in the sequel, and he's not wrong. Many of Kenai's problems could have been avoided if he wasn't so stubborn.
• Fish out of Water: Having spent most of his life as a human, Kenai really doesn't know how to be a bear or fit into the animal kingdom at first, which piques Koda's curiosity and earns him some strange looks at the Salmon Run. He adjusts between the first and second movie, though there were apparently still some mishaps.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Koda.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling:
  • Kenai is the foolish sibling to his oldest, responsible sibling, Sitka, and to a lesser extent, his other older brother, Denahi.
  • Kenai later finds himself stepping up and becoming the responsible sibling to Koda's foolish one.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: The cheerful and talkative Koda becomes the adoptive bother of the grouchy and short-tempered Kenai.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Kenai has his share of rage issues that lead to him killing a bear after blaming her for his brother's death, and he initially becomes a major curmudgeon after he turns into a bear himself.
• Happily Married: To Nita, by the end of the second film.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Everyone is initially mystified at Kenai's Totem of Love but a sequence of tragedies puts Kenai through a Forced Transformation to save Kenai from becoming a Tragic Villain. At the end, Kenai has realized that Sitka is alive and well in spirit and fully accepts his totem by keeping his bear form to care for Koda and make up for Kenai killing his mother. Koda even fully forgives him by the end of the film.
• Heel Realization: Realizing the bear he killed was Koda's mother, who was protecting her son from hunters, Kenai finds that he is the monster of the story. In fact, Kenai's entire character arc in the first film builds to him realizing that he's hurt pretty much everyone that he cares about, and the guilt that follows that revelation.
• Heroic Sacrifice: At the climax of the sequel, Kenai takes the heat off of his friends by distracting Atka, a human hunter. Atka nearly kills him by shoving him off a cliff to die.
• Hot-Blooded: Kenai is very reckless and stubborn, getting easily angered and hating being viewed as wrong. He mellows out due to his Character Development, but that doesn't mean he's above getting angry and acting out on his instincts as a bear.
• I Am a Monster: Kenai's opinion of himself plummets after the full weight of being a bear killer sets in; the song "No Way Out" delves into his guilt and self-loathing.
• In Another Man's Shoes: Kenai gains a greater understanding of the world and a greater sense of empathy for others as a bear than he ever did as a human, which is why he doesn't mind remaining one much.
• Interspecies Friendship: Kenai, the boy turned bear, is friends with natural-born bear, Koda, and Canadian moose, Rutt and Tuke.
• Interspecies Romance: Kenai's childhood crush on his old friend, Nita, remains into adulthood, when he's become a bear and they're incompatible. It's reciprocated and they both clearly wish they could act on their feelings. Nita ultimately becomes a bear as well, so they can be together.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the first film, Kenai is initially portrayed as a playful, adventurous, fun-loving teenage boy, albeit one who can also be bratty, immature, prejudiced, and hotheaded. After his eldest brother is killed and his other brother coldly shuts him out, Kenai becomes harsh, vengeful, short-sighted and rude. However, he's never portrayed as being irredeemable, simply in severe need of a growing-up lesson. As he comes to accept his brother's death and gains a new understanding of the animal kingdom, Kenai starts to defrost and open his heart to others. He starts to earn his bear of love totem by becoming noticeably braver and kinder - lightening up, becoming a responsible big brother figure to Koda, and growing willing to risk his life for his friends. Underneath a brash and gruff exterior, Kenai proves to be quite the softie by the film's end, as well as the sequel.
• Karmic Transformation: He provides the page image. He initially gets transformed into a bear as punishment for killing one senselessly, and he has to spend the rest of the movie learning to broaden his horizons and not be so quick to judge.
• Keeping the Handicap: He ultimately opts to remain a bear for the rest of his life in order to stay with Koda, out of affection and also out of guilt, since he caused the death of Koda's mother.
• Kick the Dog: Killing the bear, and breaking his promise to Koda.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • A number of unpleasant things happen to Kenai during his Redemption Quest - being transformed into an animal, enduring numerous Amusing Injuries, having to chaperone Koda (initially), being hunted by his own brother - all of which are implied to be karma for killing the bear.
  • He also has a habit of finding himself being accosted by an enraged and implacable hunter - being backed into a corner and hunted like an animal - getting to experience the way the bear died, even in the sequel when he's already reformed.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Before he receives character development, Kenai's impulsiveness and his desire to prove his toughness causes him and the people around him a lot of grief.
• Love Redeems: Love plays a large part in Kenai's redemption arc, particularly his friendship with Koda that gradually morphs into a sibling bond. It's fitting for the "bear of love".
• Mirror Character: Before Sitka died, Kenai was a fun-loving, trouble-making adventurer and something of a nuisance to his older brothers. Koda's personality is really not that different, as the foolish sibling to his responsible sibling, which he himself acknowledges after he mellows out again and starts to warms up to the cub.
• Mistaken for Own Murderer: A case of mistaken identity leads to Kenai's grief-stricken brother hunting him down to try to kill him throughout the movie.
• Morphic Resonance: In bear form, Kenai's fur color is the same as his parka.
• Must Make Amends: After confessing to Koda that he hunted down his mother, a remorseful Kenai tries to think of some way to make things right, but ultimately realizes that there's nothing he can do for him now except leave him alone, and the ultimate outcome of the story is placed in Koda's hands. After Kenai and Koda save each other's lives on the mountain summit, Kenai decides to remain a bear for the rest of his life so he can look after Koda.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Kenai's reaction when he realizes the bear he killed was Koda's mother is one of shock and devastation.
  • He has this reaction again when he realizes how important Nita's quest really is to her.
• My New Gift Is Lame: Kenai isn't too happy receiving the Bear of Love totem at first.
• Never My Fault: This is Kenai's firm stance in the original film. Growing out of this immaturity and learning that he did do a lot of damage to his friends and family is an important part of his Character Development and leads to him becoming The Atoner. ^note Although the movie later reveals that bears are intelligent and are fully aware of their actions, meaning that Koda's mother stole from humans, knowing that they would possibly go after her. Not only that but throwing rocks at a bear is supposed to scare them off, as that's what most national parks advise people to do if a bear wanders into a occupied campsite. This trope is largely averted in the sequel. Having learned a hard lesson about accountability before, Kenai is usually quick to take responsibility for his failings and does whatever he can to fix his mistakes.
• Pet the Dog: His friendship with Koda, which grows increasingly stronger and more selfless throughout the movie before he's fully redeemed at the end of it.
• The Power of Love: Kenai longs to be a tough hunter and initially doesn't value love as a concept, but his friendship with Koda and fraternal love for the cub bring out the best in him. He later becomes a man by becoming a bear.
• Parental Substitute: Even though Kenai and Koda call each other "brothers", it's clear in the sequel that this is what Kenai became to Koda.
• Predator Turned Protector: He was formerly a hunter before he became a protective big bro.
• Promoted to Parent: After unknowingly killing Koda's mother Kenai decides to become Koda's primary caregiver, making a special effort to fulfill the role of a big brother and father figure to Koda.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Kenai already saw manhood as a test of how strong and powerful he was, so when Sitka dies, he claims it's his duty, as a man, to hunt down the bear who attacked him and kill it to avenge him, chiding Denahi for wanting to do nothing.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Kenai's attitude at the start of the film. He doesn't see his bear of love totem as particularly helpful or masculine, and after Sitka dies, Kenai rejects his totem and decides a real man would hunt down the bear who killed him and avenge his brother. This is partly because Denahi constantly insults or makes fun of his younger brother, even more so after Kenai receives his totem. Kenai matures through Character Development and opens his heart to more tender feelings, ironically becoming quite the softie. He never quite loses his macho, rough attitude, but it's far more playful, mischievous, and healthy than harmful in the sequel.
• Redemption Equals Death: Very narrowly subverted. The film fakes out Kenai being stabbed by Denahi's spear in an attempt to rescue Koda, only to reveal Sitka rescued him, giving him another chance and another way to right his wrongs.
• Revenge Myopia: When Sitka dies during a lethal bear attack (which was technically Kenai's fault), the first and only thing Kenai wants is "retribution". It backfires massively.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Early in the film, Kenai sets out to kill the bear he blames for his brother's death, and doesn't stop until he succeeds.
• Skyward Scream: Kenai has two of these. One right after he kills the bear and seemingly avenges his brother, and another when he finally realizes he's been transformed into a bear. Both of which get a lot of range.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After making peace with everything that happened to him and his brothers, and accepting the surreal nature of the animal kingdom, Kenai's original friendly demeanor returns to him in the latter half of the original film.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Kenai does this in the second half of the original film, as well as the sequel - cycling around from a goofy teen, to a borderline Jerkass, to a likable Jerk with a Heart of Gold, to a full-on Nice Guy. By the sequel, he's noticeably become more empathetic, taking other people's feelings into account more often and gently helping Nita face her aquaphobia.
• Unstoppable Rage: Kenai falls back on all his rage, grief, and hatred when he's hunting the bear, despite being completely outmatched in terms of speed and strength.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Upon killing the bear he blamed for Sitka's death, Kenai isn't at all happy. He's on his knees, giving a grief-stricken Skyward Scream, unsatisfied since his brother is still dead.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Kenai needs to go through a lesson spanning the length of the film to learn the depth of his Bear of Love totem. After being transformed into a bear as a constructive punishment for senselessly killing a bear who he blames for Sitka's death, he learns how Heart Is an Awesome Power at the end of his journey.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • At one point, when Denahi is right on his heels, he has a choice between getting himself to safety or doubling back for Koda. He chooses the latter.
  • If he'd kept quiet about killing Koda's mother, Koda never would've known. Kenai tells him the truth anyway, because he knows it's the only way he can even attempt to set things right.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Initially, Kenai not only hates bears, he also fears them - to the point where he's completely terrified when he finds himself among a whole group of them at the salmon run. Thankfully, he does end up warming up to them and no longer sees them as monsters, after everything he experienced on his Redemption Quest.

Koda

A worldly, outspoken, adventurous young bear cub, Koda is the deuteragonist of the franchise and Kenai's best friend.

Voiced by: Jeremy Suarez^{Other voice actors}Loyan Pons De Vier [first film], Gwenaël Sommier [second film] (European French); Kyosuke Ikeda (Japanese)

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Of the bear bros, Koda is this, being the more excitable, talkative one. The pair have enough in common that they become good friends anyway.
• Beary Friendly: A genuinely nice bear cub and a well-meaning companion.
• Beary Funny: Koda definitely has a silly side to him - as a very impulsive, chatty, carefree child - and like Rutt and Tuke, he provides a lot of the film's humor.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kenai saves Koda's life several times in both movies. Koda finally gets to return the favor by saving Kenai at the last minute from being gutted by Denahi's dagger. It's especially notable since this rescue happens after "No Way Out".
• Break the Cutie: The entirety of "No Way Out". Koda is quite rightly traumatized by what he learns in this song, and needs some time alone afterwards.
• Cheerful Child: Koda generally has a friendly and optimistic, if rambunctious, demeanor. The song, "On My Way", is all about Koda enjoying life and adventure.
• Children Are Innocent: Koda is savvy and at times lippy, but the films never forget how young he is supposed to be, and his youthful innocence compared to the older characters is emphasized several times - like the naivety and lack of foresight he sometimes displays, his initially simple world view, and the cub's friendship with Kenai eventually forcing him to confront complex, grey concepts beyond his years.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Koda is quite the odd child who gets into all sorts of noodle incidents and enjoys going against social norms, but nevertheless tends to win people over through pure enthusiasm.
• Constantly Curious: Koda already knows quite a few things about forest life, certainly more so than Kenai, but as one would expect from a cub so young, he's very inquisitive and he soaks up new knowledge and information like a sponge. He also starts to take an interest in the human world, after his friendship with Kenai causes him to overcome his fear of humans.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Invoked and Played for Laughs. Koda claims to know some 'moves' to defend himself with, though no one takes him seriously. He later demonstrates them on Rutt by flipping the moose onto his back.
• Deuteragonist: The second most prominent character in the films, with his own arc in each movie.
• Did Not Think This Through: Koda's plan to fetch Nita from her village puts him in danger of being hunted by humans.
  • He also admits his plan to provoke dozens of angry raccoons to distract them from Nita was not well thought-out.
• Disappeared Dad: Koda at no point comments on having a father, with his mother being the only relative he ever speaks about. None of the bears at the salmon run ever make a comment on him either, which could imply he's no longer among the living. On the other hand, male bears in real life don’t assist in cub-rearing so there may be a much more simple explanation for why we never hear about Koda’s father.
• Distressed Dude: Koda is actually put into extreme peril about as often as Kenai, since they travel together, but since Koda is the smallest and youngest of the four main characters he can barely defend himself and needs to be rescued more often.
• Fantastic Racism: A mild example compared to all the other ones in the movie. Koda tends to avoid humans and after spending time with Kenai (who lost a brother), he decides that they're monsters. Koda is forced to confront this idea by the movie's end, and having a child's innocence makes it easier for him to do so.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Koda often speaks what is on his mind and doesn't mince words, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because he often tells his friend Kenai important things that the teen doesn't want to hear, and a bad thing because it sometimes means Koda doesn't know when to stop talking and can become Innocently Insensitive.
  • Koda can also be somewhat clingy, since being alone is a fear of his. After being separated from his mom, Koda immediately latches onto a bear he knows nothing about, and he gradually becomes jealous of Nita when he suspects she's trying to steal Kenai away from him, leaving him alone again.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Kenai, through their ups and downs. He even saves his life at one point.
• Foil: To Kenai. Like Kenai, Koda finds himself having to face his fears & prejudices and gain a greater understanding of how the world works, and like Kenai, he also suffers the pain of loss. But where his older brother chose to seek revenge, Koda finds it in him to forgive.
• Forgiveness: After having some time to cool off and realizing, with Rutt and Tuke's help, that Kenai really has changed from the bear-hating hunter he used to be before, Koda finds it in him to forgive him for hunting down his mom.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: The cheerful and talkative Koda becomes the adoptive bother of the grouchy and short-tempered Kenai.
• The Glomp: Koda is never one to pass up a good bear hug, and he initiates a pretty hearty and relieved one when he and Kenai both survive their duel with Denahi on the mountain summit.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In the sequel, Koda initially likes Nita until she and Kenai start to get really chummy with each other, to the point where briefly become a third wheel. He slowly grows jealous of her, as he starts to dislike how much she's changed the status quo and he worries that Kenai will forget him in favor of her.
• Heroic BSoD: After he learns his mother has died, Koda shuts down and spends a day grieving her.
• Hidden Depths: Koda is not perfect and is in many ways immature (since he is just a cub), but in other ways the boy is more level-headed and perceptive than one would expect him to be. Koda has gained some wisdom and critical thinking skills from his years of traveling with his mom before he met Kenai. When he learns Kenai's brother is dead, he tries to offer him some comfort. After spending a day feeling hurt and betrayed by Kenai's confession, he pieces together everything he's learned from throughout the movie (from his mom's part in Sitka's death to Rutt and Tuke's advice) and deduces that Kenai is at least worth hearing out and doubles back for him. Like Kenai, Koda ends the first film with a more nuanced view of the world than he had before.
• Immune To Jumpscares: When Kenai tries to get back at Koda for surprising him, he roars when Koda has his back turned. Koda is not even fazed by Kenai's roar. He does tell him that he has a little spit dangling off his mouth though.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • An amused Koda reminiscences about how weirdly Kenai behaves as a bear to the other, older bears at the Salmon Run, not noticing how afraid and uncomfortable he is.
  • In the sequel, Koda tells Nita that Kenai has dreams about her; the audience knows that Kenai's dreams are simply his childhood memories of her, but Nita doesn't and the way that Koda describes it really doesn't help. In fact the way, Koda describes it makes it sound like a ''different'' type of dream; Kenai even acknowledges this by going scarlet (as scarlet as a human-turned-bear can) and covering Koda's mouth while Nita starts giggling.
  • Koda also tells Nita her amulet has been lost for good to the raccoons and casually tap dances on her aquaphobia until Kenai snaps at him to stop.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He has these with quite a few characters in the movies, actually. Despite Kenai initially labeling Koda as being annoying, Koda is very sociable and outgoing and he loves meeting new people and having new experiences. So if you give him enough time, he tends to win people over, regardless of age or species. Examples include Tug, Kenai, Nita, Rutt and Tuke, and eventually Denahi.
• Interspecies Friendship: Over the course of the two duology, Koda manages to form a bond with two humans who are magically transformed into bears, and two eccentric moose brothers.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A platonic, brotherly example. After he starts to feel guilty about coming between them and he grows saddened by Kenai's depression, Koda decides that he wants Kenai to be with Nita if it makes him happy, even though he (Koda) would possibly lose him. Koda even goes as far as to ask the spirits to change Kenai back. Much to Koda's surprise, although the spirits do appear in preparation to turn Kenai back, it doesn't happen because Kenai doesn't want to leave Koda and Nita takes advantage of the spirits presence to turn into a bear instead.
  Koda: Mom, Kenai's so sad. It's all because of me. I'll be okay on my own. Tell the spirits to change Kenai back so he can be happy.
• Keet: Bar the odd case of emotional turmoil or trauma, Koda is generally a plucky, inquisitive and optimistic kid, and perhaps the most extroverted member of the cast.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Type B. Koda can be troublesome, mischievous and overly talkative, but he can also be kind, brave and optimistic. He also pulls his own weight by being more knowledgeable than Kenai in some areas.
• Kid Sidekick: While Koda was Kenai's forest guide and usually led him around in the first film, he often acts as this in the sequel, letting his big brother call the shots more often than not.
• Morality Pet: Koda tends to be this to Kenai. His friendship with the older bear redeems the former hunter.
• Motor Mouth: Koda has plenty of stories to share with people, and some of them he really gets into. His gift of gab is one of his most notable traits, and it can be really quite annoying before you get to know him.
• Nice Guy: Mischievous, hyperactive, and chatty as he may be, Koda is one of the nicest characters in the original film and fairly empathetic, though he becomes significantly more angsty in the sequel.
• Noodle Incident: Most of Koda's stories are this, especially the ones that involve his friend, Bucky.
• The Not-Love Interest: To Kenai, and vice-versa. For all their teasing and arguing, Kenai and Koda are best friends and adoptive siblings so they care a great deal about each other and each other's happiness. One of the themes of the franchise is that platonic or familial relationships can be just as strong as romantic ones, to the point of risking one's life over, so things get awkward for a while when Kenai does gain a love interest, and Koda starts to feel like a third wheel.
• Pinky Swear: Small bear that he is, Koda is fond of these.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: When Koda learns everything there is to know about Kenai, including the really ugly parts, it devastates him and he ends their friendship for a while. He bounces back in time for the climax.
• Raised by Humans: A variant. After Kenai chooses to remain a bear permanently, Koda gains an older brother figure.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Koda is a very plucky and outspoken young bear cub. Naturally, he's adorable.
• Save the Villain: Despite previously learning Kenai is a bear killer who hunted down his mom, Koda still chooses to take pity on him and save the guilt-ridden bear from Denahi - because they'd bonded. He's already lost a mother, he also doesn't want to lose a friend. This winds up being the last thing to convince Kenai to try to redeem himself.
• Secret-Keeper: He's one of the few characters who learn about Kenai's past as a human hunter during the first movie, though the sequel implies that Kenai would later divulge more information to other bears as well.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Koda's character faults are expanded upon in the sequel, and a mixture of fear and envy causes the cub to behave jerkishly towards newcomer Nita. Like Kenai, he takes responsibility for his actions and does what he can to fix the damage afterwards.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Berries. All kinds of berries.
• Truth in Television: Judging by Koda's size in comparison to Kenai's in the first film, Koda is a yearling. Meaning that when the sequel happens seven months later, ^note  The first movie mentions a Salmon Run, which bears attend in late summer/early autumn to fatten up for hibernation. Koda is practically two years old, so when Koda asks his mother to change Kenai back because he (Kenai) is unhappy and Koda says that he'll be able to take care of himself. Koda is actually referencing something that happens to all bear cubs when they are two years old: When they have to separate from their mother and learn to live a solitary life.^note  Brown bear cubs become independent at 1.5 years of age and beyond. Basically Koda is saying that he's ready to be solitary if it means that Kenai can be happy.
• What You Are in the Dark: Just as Denahi is about to get his revenge and kill Kenai, Koda steps in and puts himself at risk to help him. Koda had no obligation to get involved, and no other bear would have blamed him if he had decided to just let Kenai die in karmic fashion (least of all Kenai himself), considering what Kenai had done to him. Koda's actions in the eleventh hour make it clear that, at his core, he's a pretty good kid.

Rutt and Tuke

Rutt.

Tuke.

Rutt and Tuke are a wandering pair of laidback moose brothers who eventually befriend Kenai and Koda. Rutt and Tuke are often oblivious to what goes on outside their own sphere of activity, but they have good hearts.

Voiced by: Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas^{Other voice actors}Kad Merad (Tuke, first film), Olivier Baroux [Rutt, first film] Laurent Morteau [Tuke, second film], Sébastien Desjours [Rutt, second film] (European French); Tomoyuki Dan [Rutt], Tesshō Genda [Tuke] (Japanese)

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• Ascended Extra: The pair are minor characters in the first film, and supporting characters in the second, becoming more involved with the main plot. They also provide the DVD Commentary for the first film.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Tuke has been looking out for Rutt ever since they were calves, and the two siblings have stuck together, through thick and thin, despite their squabbles.
  • Rutt and Tuke also show shades of this trope towards Koda: they give him advice, back him up in an argument he had with Kenai in a deleted scene from the first film, and help Kenai to rescue him from a village full of hunters.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the climax of the second movie, Rutt and Tuke follow Kenai to Nita's village so they can help Koda, and they show up just in time to save Koda when he's been cornered by a couple of human hunters.
• Casanova Wannabe: Rutt and Tuke aren't as good with the ladies as they think they are or as good as they'd like to be. They get better though.
• Character Development: Rutt and Tuke start out as a pair of funny cowards and quirky loners, but they grow into cowardly lions due to their friendship with Kenai and Koda and their loyalty towards the bears. They also gain two loving moosette mates after they manage to win their hearts.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Rutt and Tuke are about as talkative as Koda, tend to ramble on a lot, and always do their own thing, no matter how strange it may seem (like moose yoga), but they also have their insightful moments.
• Cowardly Lion: Despite their fear of hunters and predators in general, Rutt and Tuke do not hesitate to help Kenai find and rescue Koda from a human village when they all realize the cub is in danger.
• The Ditz: They're not the sharpest moose in Alaska.
• Expy: Of Rick Moranis's and Dave Thomas's SCTV characters, Bob and Doug Mckenzie, eh?
• Foil: The moose brothers often act as comedic foils to whatever problem Kenai and Koda are going through, and in some ways they help the bears to gain perspective by showing them the strength of their bond.
• Interspecies Friendship: Rutt and Tuke's closest friends appear to be the bear bros, Kenai and Koda. Ironically, moose are often the prey of bears (something the pair worry about initially) but Kenai is a human transformed into a bear and Koda is just a cub, so they have little to fear from them (and the bear bros mostly eat berries, roots, and fish anyway).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tuke is apparently the more laddish and self-centered brother, to the point where Rutt gets fed up with him sometimes and calls him out on it. But their spats never last for long, because Tuke is a good guy at his core and they've been best friends since their childhood.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Rutt and Tuke are simple-minded moose, but they're also very friendly and can be quite loving and loyal.
• Lovable Coward: They're far from the bravest characters in these movies (in fact, they ask to tag along on the bears' journey, simply because they hope that Kenai and Koda will protect them from a hunter, completely unaware that they're the ones Denahi's after), but they are good friends and they come through when it counts.
• Moose and Maple Syrup: The moose brothers both have very thick Canadian accents.
• Moose Are Idiots: They somehow manage to total a mammoth offscreen.
• National Animal Stereotypes: They are moose with obvious Canadian accents.
• The Nicknamer: Since Rutt and Tuke rarely ever address people by name and they like to tease the bear brothers, they nickname them 'big bear' and 'smallish bear', respectively (and the names stick).
• Pick Up Babes With Babes: Taking advice from Nita, Rutt and Tuke try to impress their potential mates with their friendship with Koda. It is surprisingly successful.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Rutt and Tuke are generally there to be goofy and relieve tension sometimes, as well as offer the bears some helpful advice on their problems. They don't become too involved with the main plot until the climax of the second movie.
• Secret-Keeper: Kenai tells Rutt and Tuke about his old life as a human man in the first movie, though they don't seem to actually believe it's true until the sequel. It's notable that they quickly accept his relationship with Nita, implying that he finally managed to convince them during the gap between movies.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sequel reveals Tuke is the masculine brother and Rutt is the sensitive one (Rutt being the latter winds up impressing women). This was hinted at in the original film, when Rutt was wounded by Tuke insulting the size of his snout.
• Sibling Rivalry: Rutt and Tuke lapse into this trope at times. A friendly competition to pass the time gets pretty heated remarkably fast, and they briefly compete over the moosettes' attention in the sequel.
• Those Two Guys: Rutt and Tuke's role in the series, particularly the first film.
• Verbal Tic: Rutt and Tuke stick "eh" onto the ends of their sentences a lot.

Sitka

^{Click here to see him as a spirit.}

Kenai's oldest sibling, Sitka keeps his two younger brothers in line and provides them with much needed life advice. Sitka dies early in the film, but still manages to influence the plot and monitors things from the afterlife.

Voiced by: D.B. Sweeney^{Other voice actors}Boris Rehlinger [European French], Kazuhiro Yamaji [Japanese]

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• Animal Motifs: Sitka's totem is an eagle, which serves as a representation for guidance. His spirit-form is also that of an eagle.
• Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: It's implied this is what became of Sitka and Koda's mother.
• Big Brother Instinct: He willingly sacrificed his life to save Kenai and Denahi from a bear. Even when he turns into a spirit, he continues to look out for both of them.
• Big Brother Mentor: Out of his brothers, he's the eldest and the most mature, and always gives his more erratic younger siblings a lot of guidance and important life teachings to help them grow up the right way. His departure sends Kenai and Denahi on a spiral of depression that causes their respective worst flaws to grow out of control and properly kickstarts the plot of the film.
• Big Good: He serves as this after his demise, gaining great wisdom as a member of the spirits and the ability to transform people into animals.
• The Chessmaster: Despite being a benevolent character, Sitka becomes this as a spirit. He arranges the circumstances of Kenai's transformation so Denahi will think Kenai is dead and that bear-Kenai murdered him, and then lets the pair fight it out throughout the movie (with Koda caught in the middle) so they can learn their respective life lessons. In the last act, he leads Denahi to Kenai to fire up the climax, and while it's clear he wouldn't have let any of them die he does wait until the last possible second to intervene. Sitka basically plays a very dangerous long game in the background in the movie, in the hopes of making both his brothers better people.
• Cool Big Bro: His pep talk to Kenai makes it clear Sitka's opinion means a lot to his youngest brother and Kenai looks up to him.
• Disney Villain Death: Inverted since he's a hero, but he dies by falling after a cliff collapses under him. Kenai and Denahi are only able to find his spear head and a portion of his cloak afterwards.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Sitka falls off a cliff and is crushed to death under large slabs of a glacier.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He is the responsible sibling to his two foolish, younger siblings.
• Good Is Not Soft: As noted above, for such a Nice Guy, Sitka proves to be surprisingly ruthless and manipulative when it comes to ensuring Kenai and Denahi learn the error of their ways, though considering what's at the stake and the severity of their actions, his methods are also understandable.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He perishes saving his brothers from being killed by an enraged bear, who is Koda's mother.
• Only Sane Man: Among his trio of brothers, given he's a lot calmer, wiser and less egoistic than the short-tempered, argumentative Denahi and the rambunctious, childish Kenai. Add to that his age, and no wonder he's the leader of the three.
• Living Emotional Crutch: If the Disaster Dominoes that happen after his death are any indication. Lampshaded by a sad Tanana, who says to the air, knowing Sitka can listen that "You left too soon, Sitka. Your brothers need your guidance."
• Nice Guy: Out of his two elder brothers, Kenai has a stronger bond with Sitka, considering he's much more empathetic toward him and always listens closely to his worries and doubts. His demise hit poor Kenai really hard.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Sitka's spirit appears as an eagle, specifically, the Eagle of Guidance. He even keeps an eye on his brothers during their journey to the mountain, and guides Denahi to where Kenai is to force a final confrontation.
• Not So Above It All: Sitka is exasperated by his brothers' antics, but he's not above having fun with them himself or whacking them both upside the head when they're being childish.
• Posthumous Character: Sitka's spirit makes appearances throughout the film, as both a human and his spirit animal (a bald eagle), to guide the characters along.
• The Speechless: He is completely silent as a spirit.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He's the wisest and least flawed of the three brothers, so naturally he's the one to kick the bucket during the first act. His death also causes Emotional Regression with his two brothers, whose flaws become much more pronounced and fall into blind, destructive vengeance without him to guide them.
• Tough Love: Sitka loves his brothers dearly, but after blood has been spilt, he decides to let them fight it out for most of the movie to learn their respective life lessons and grow up the hard way.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in the first fifteen minutes of the movie.

Denahi

^{Click here to see him as an elder.}

Kenai's second oldest sibling, and the middle child of the three human brothers, Denahi loses his only two remaining family members in short succession and gradually descends into rage and grief fueled insanity throughout the movie.

Voiced by: Jason Raize (young), Harold Gould (narration), Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley (elder)^{Other voice actors}Damien Boisseau (European French); Hiroaki Hirata [young], Yoshisada Sakaguchi [narration] (Japanese)

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• Aesop Amnesia: A more tear-jerking in-universe example. Upon Sitka's death, Denahi attempts to follow his guidance in reverence and tries to be more wise. When Kenai doesn't listen to his warnings against revenge and seemingly gets killed as well, Denahi is overcome with guilt and grief and, forgoing all attempts at wisdom, goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, instead becoming the very thing he warned Kenai against being.
• All There in the Manual: Denahi's totem is the Wolf of Wisdom.
• Anti-Villain: Despite furiously hunting Kenai, Denahi isn't actually a villain and is more driven by heartbroken anger from thinking his only remaining brother was killed. He doesn't know that the bear he's hunting is actually Kenai and thinks that it is the bear that killed his brother. What's more, he comes to his senses when he realizes Kenai was the bear he was hunting.
• Beard of Evil: An anti-villain example: Denahi grows facial hair while hunting Kenai. It also overlaps with Beard of Sorrow, since Denahi believes that Kenai is dead. He eventually subverts both tropes and keeps the facial hair after he realizes the bear is Kenai.
• Big Bad Slippage: Denahi starts the film as an ally to Kenai, but after Kenai's presumed death he becomes more and more unhinged and vengeful, culminating in him becoming the closest thing the film has to a main antagonist and the Final Boss.
• Big Brother Bully: He's easily annoyed by Kenai's tomfoolery and constantly rubs it in his face. When Kenai is given the Bear of Love as his totem, Denahi regularly goes out of his way to mock and humiliate him for his "unmanly" totem. This, coupled with Kenai's unbridled desire to prove himself, causes lots of trouble.
• Big Brother Instinct: It isn't demonstrated as frequently as it is with Kenai, nor does he have a grand, dramatic moment like Sitka, but Denahi fits this trope as well. Denahi was fully prepared to fight off a hostile bear to try to rescue Kenai, and when he mistakenly thinks Kenai was ripped to shreds by said bear, he takes it very, very hard.
• Chick Magnet: When teasing Kenai about his totem, Denahi bumps into three women who wave and greet him flirtingly.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Unlike many of the other supporting characters, he fails to make a reappearance in the sequel, despite Kenai getting married at the end of it.
• Cool Old Guy: The opening scene shows him as the village shaman telling the story of Kenai to a group of children. To boot, the totem of Wisdom adds to said coolness.
• Easily Forgiven: After getting the full story on the movie's events, Koda doesn't seem to hold much of a grudge against Denahi for all the trouble he caused him, and by the epilogue seems to have accepted him as family through Kenai.
• Emotional Regression: Sitka's death, and Kenai's apparent demise, cause this for him. He forgets his own advice about not letting revenge consume someone and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge of his own, going mad from the isolation and undergoing a Sanity Slippage.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Denahi gets these when hunting relentlessly Kenai in his bear form.
• Foil: To Kenai. On the one hand, the spirits intervene and prevent Kenai from spiraling further down the dark and violent path he was on, regaining his better nature though his friendship with Koda, while Denahi has no one and through Sanity Slippage loses himself almost entirely. On the other hand, Denahi is just barely spared having the stain of murder on his conscience (the murder of his own brother, no less!), while Kenai has already passed that point and has to live with the guilt for the rest of his life.
• Hairstyle Inertia: As an old man. The only difference between him and his older self is gray hair and wrinkles.
• Heel–Face Turn: Denahi has a pretty quick and remorseful one when he realizes his little brother is still alive and that he almost killed him. Afterwards, he gives Kenai his blessing to stay with Koda, who has been orphaned by everything that happened.
• Heroic BSoD: Denahi suffers this after he believes both his brothers are dead. He spends the rest of the movie tracking bear-Kenai because he thinks he killed human-Kenai.
• Implacable Man: Denahi, in revenge mode. At one point, he jumps nearly clear over a ravine to get to Kenai. When he doesn't make it all the way, he tries to climb up a sheer cliff using only a dagger for support. He's a decent tracker, it seems like, because he's always following them.
• Love Makes You Evil: Brotherly love. His belief that both his brothers died due to chasing a bear causes him to become an Implacable Man on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the bear that he believed killed Kenai.
• Middle Child Syndrome: He suffers from this big time. First, he lost his older brother, who gave up his life to protect Denahi and Kenai from a bear, and then he thinks throughout the rest of the movie that Kenai was killed by another bear. The latter happens after Denahi tries to be the mature and responsible brother in place of Sitka.
• Mirror Character: He handles Kenai's apparent death just as badly as Kenai handled Sitka's death. Unlike Kenai, who was prevented from traveling further down a dark path by the spirits' intervention, Denahi grows even worse over the course of the movie, as he experiences a bad case of Sanity Slippage and almost loses himself to his obsessive need for revenge.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He is utterly horrified when he thinks his ugly fight with Kenai led him to face the bear alone and be killed, costing him both of his brothers in two days. He has another moment of this later when he realizes the bear he was hunting was Kenai, and he came dangerously close to killing his own little brother.
• Never My Fault:
  • Denahi blames Kenai, and only Kenai, for Sitka being killed. He comes to regret this after Kenai is seemingly killed as well.
  • He does it again and blames the bear and only the bear for Kenai's seeming death, to avoid feeling guilt for his Parting-Words Regret.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Denahi pokes fun at Kenai a lot for having a 'non-manly' totem, which leads to Kenai overcompensating to try to prove himself, which in turn leads to all sorts of Disaster Dominoes.
• Parting-Words Regret: "I don't blame the bear, Kenai!" After Kenai seemingly got himself killed hunting the bear that he had blamed for Sitka's death, Denahi is so overwhelmed with grief and guilt that he too chooses to shift the blame onto the bear that seemingly killed Kenai to avoid feeling guilt for seemingly driving his own brother to a self-destructive end.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Not unlike Kenai, Denahi initially has a very laddish and macho personality and he scoffs at how sappy and unmanly Kenai's bear of love totem is, teasing his brother a good deal about it. Then Sitka perishes. Dealing with his grief over his dead and missing brothers for most of the film, along with seeing how strong Kenai and Koda's friendship is, causes him to change his mind about how powerful love can be and grow to respect it a lot more by the film's end.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He spends most of the movie relentlessly chasing the bear who seemingly killed his younger brother, not knowing that the bear is actually a transformed Kenai.
• Sanity Slippage: With nothing left to lose and nothing tethering him anymore, Denahi becomes increasingly unstable throughout the movie, living in solitude in the wilderness and driven entirely by his desire for revenge on some bears. By the climax, there's very little of his old self left. Thankfully, he seems to get better by the end of the film.
• Sibling Rivalry: Sitka and Kenai get along well, partly because Sitka is the Cool Big Bro of the family and the most responsible sibling. Denahi and Kenai on the other hand, squabble constantly and go out of their way to antagonize each other. Denahi and Kenai seemingly bring out each other's most immature personality traits, which winds up costing them greatly in ways they could never have imagined.
• The Speechless: During his time trying to hunt Kenai in his bear form, he doesn't speak, only exclaming "No!," when failing to catch Kenai and later speaks when trying to warm himself and when Sitka appears to him in Eagle form.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After everything that has happened, Denahi certainly has changed for the better. He turns into a more level-headed, compassionate man, comes to understand and respect Kenai better and begins to truly respect and follow his totem, eventually becoming shaman himself when he grows old.
• Unstoppable Rage: He is surprisingly tough for your average human hunter; at his most furious, he's fearless, savage and relentless all at once.
• Would Hurt a Child: Having gone mad with grief, Denahi has no qualms about trying to kill Koda and targets him as well as Kenai.

Tanana

Voiced by: Joan Copeland^{Other voice actors}Mitsuko Mori (Japanese)

The village shaman, who tries to impart Kenai with some wisdom before he sets out on his journey.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Much like Denahi, she for some reason doesn't return in the sequel, not even during Kenai and Nita's wedding.
• Friend to All Living Things: During "Great Spirits," she walks through a herd of grazing musk-oxen, and strokes one of them under the chin, while the musk-ox calmly lets her do so.
• Killed Offscreen: Since the movie begins with Denahi as an old man, she certainly already would be long before then.
• Magical Native American: A down-played example. She is occasionally shown to communicate with the Great Spirits (e.g., divining Kenai's totem on the sacred mountain, and asking Sitka to watch over his brothers as the story progresses), and can somehow manage to get Bear!Kenai to understand her (though she can't understand him when he tries to speak to her).

Tug

An old friend of Koda's and the unspoken head bear at the salmon run.

Voiced by: Michael Clarke Duncan^{Other voice actors}David Douillet (European French); Daisuke Gōri (Japanese)

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• Beary Friendly: Genial, sociable and humorous - he is the lovable lug of the bear group at the salmon run.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He's easily the darkest looking bear in the film, and arguably the scariest on appearance alone. He's actually a really Nice Guy.
• Gentle Giant: When Tug is first seen, he looks utterly terrifying as he emerges from the water and towers over Kenai. He is then immediately revealed to be the most jovial and friendly character in the entire film.
• Large and in Charge: He is by far the largest bear in the series, and while not outright stated, he seems to be the leader of the group at the salmon run.
• Nice Guy: He gets along well with all the bears at the salmon run, and gladly welcomes Kenai into their group.

Nita

^{Click here to see her as a child.}

^{Click here to see her as a bear.}

A 17-year-old proto-Inuit girl who is Kenai's childhood best friend and crush. Nita seeks Kenai's help after the Great Spirits object to her betrothal to Atka, having sought advice from the Sha"wo"man of her village she learns that due to the fact that Kenai once gave her his amulet after saving her from drowning, the Great Spirits bonded them as soulmates and that the only way to remove the bond is to go to Hokani Falls with Kenai and burn the amulet with him. During their mission, the old feelings Nita once had for Kenai begin to rekindle, leading to her questioning if marrying Atka is going to be the right choice.

Voiced by: Mandy Moore^{Other voice actors}Laura Préjean (European French); Yuko Kaida (Japanese)

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• Arranged Marriage: With Atka. They've never even met before the ceremony.
• Childhood Friend: Nita is this to Kenai, and vice-versa.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Kenai.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: When she initially sets out to burn her amulet, Nita has her hair in a long braid; as the second movie progresses, she eventually lets her hair flow freely, showing her old self is re-emerging.
• Happily Married: By the end of the second film.
• Interspecies Romance: Nita begins to develop feelings for Kenai, who's been transformed into a bear. Justified because he used to be her best friend, and despite being a bear, he still is technically a human. At the end of the film, she becomes a bear as well, so they can be together, becoming a Cool Big Sister to Koda.
• Meaningful Name: Her name means "bear" in Choctaw (which likely foreshadows her transformation into a bear at the end of the film).
• Not So Above It All: Nita was a playful tomboy as a girl. In the present day, Nita initially comes off as a serious, no-nonsense person, partly because of stress and a ticking clock. She lightens up considerably over the course of the movie after spending time with the bear brothers.
• Take a Third Option: Since Kenai can't just abandon Koda to be with her, and Nita can't be with Kenai as a human, she chooses to become a bear and stay with the bear brothers.
• The Smurfette Principle: Nita is the only female main character in the films.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Nita nearly drowned as a child in a frozen pond, and ever since she's had a strong case of aquaphobia (the fear of water). When Kenai discovers this, he helps her overcome it.
• Women Are Wiser: Zigzagged; Nita invokes this trope a few times, but the film makes it clear there are times when she needs Kenai and Koda's help.